xxiii, 340 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : 25 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 278-312) and index

Timeline -- Geological ages -- Prologue: Evolution of an idea -- Part one: The non-passerines. 1. The tinamou's story : death of a paradigm ; 2. The vegavis's story : the cradle of modern birds ; 3. The waterfowl's story : refugia, high living and sex ; 4. The hoatzin's story : an improbable voyage ; 5. The penguin's story : phenotype and environment ; 6. The storm petrel's story : sympatry versus allopatry ; 7. The albatross's story : the species problem ; 8. The godwit's story : quantum compasses ; 9. The buzzard's story : accidental speciation ; 10. The owl's story : nightlife ; 11. The oilbird's story : evolutionary distinctiveness ; 12. The hummingbird's story : a route of evanescence ; 13. The parrot's story : vicariance and dispersal -- Part two: The passerines. 14. The New Zealand wren's story : a novel foot ; 15. The manakin's story : why so many suboscines? ; 16. The sapayoa's story : odd one out ; 17. The scrubbird's story : where song began ; 18. The bowerbird's story : extended phenotypes ; 19. The crow's story : cognitive skills ; 20. The bird of paradise's story : sexual selection ; 21. The starling's story : structural colours ; 22. The thrush's story : sweepstake dispersals ; 23. The sparrow's story : hybridisation and speciation ; 24. The zebra finch's story : evolution of birdsong ; 25. The white-eye's story : supertramps and great speciators ; 26. The crossbill's story : adaptive radiation and coevolution ; 27. The tanager's story : a final flourish -- Postscript: The sixth extinction -- Glossary -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Dramatis personae -- Index

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